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The J. Lo Hot Mess Parade Continues, But Not in the Bronx

J. Lo a.k.a. “Jenny from the Block” apparently has no desire to go down that road again. In the Fiat ad (no, not her performance at the AMAs) it’s not actually Jennifer Lopez who’s driving down the gritty streets of the Bronx in her jaunty little car, but a body double. Lopez, in fact, never left L.A.

“And how does Fiat fit with her brand anyway? It seems like a bad match from the start. Two sad, tired brands past their prime that need publicity desperately. Yawn,” PRNewser contributor Celeste Altus says. Very true Celeste. On top of that, it means the ad is a big, fat lie.

The fakery is not only in the way the ad portrays something that Lopez isn’t doing. The voice-over of the ad talks up how much of an inspiration this neighborhood is for J. Lo; how much she gains from her association with the ‘hood. But she doesn’t even pay a visit to film her commercial? It’s not even her in the commercial.

And this isn’t the only ad where she’s playing off of her “roots.” In the spot for her clothing line at Kohl’s, she says, “My collection is made of all the things that make me.” Cut away to more break dancers and Bronx street scenes. (FYI, the only things happening in the Bronx are graffiti and dancing in the streets. It’s happier than Disneyland.)

“My style tells my story,” she says. Just stop it before you embarrass yourself any further.

She may not realize it, but Lopez is doing damage to her credibility each time she talks up this nonsense about her deep and unending ties to the Bronx. She’s from New York, but, at this point, she’s as much boogie-down Bx as Chef Boyardee is fine Italian cooking. There’s a link, but that’s as far as it goes.

“It seems Fiat sought to lease some of Lopez’s street cred in a bid to create a gauzier version of Chrysler’s ‘Made In Detroit’ ad starring the rapper Eminem,” writes The Smoking Gun.

If Jennifer Lopez keeps shoveling this fairytale at consumers, it soon won’t be worth the price of hiring her as a spokesperson.